Dr. Dean Barnes
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Burlington, Ontario
Leadership & Equity Specialist | Representation, Storytelling & Education Expert
- Videos
- Expertise
- Podcasts
- Media Interviews
- Leadership
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
- Inclusive Leadership
- Teamwork
- Cultural Diversity
- Leadership and Change
- Business & Corporate
- Athletes & Sports
- Inspirational Leadership
DR. DEAN BARNES BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Dean Barnes is a Canadian speaker, podcaster, collector, and education leader who uses storytelling to promote leadership, equity, and community building. With over 25 years of leadership experience, Dean brings a compelling and authentic voice to conversations about representation, identity, and systemic change in sport, education, and business.
Dean is the creator and host of the award-winning My Hockey Hero podcast, which features powerful interviews with Black NHL players and racialized athletes from the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), the largest development league for NHL players in the world. Through personal stories of perseverance, leadership, and identity, the podcast helps audiences understand the challenges and triumphs of underrepresented athletes. In 2023, My Hockey Hero won Best Sports Podcast at the Black Podcasting Awards and reached #11 on Apple’s U.S. hockey podcast charts. Dean’s ongoing partnership with the CHL continues to bring these stories to new audiences across Canada and beyond.
In 2021, Dean completed a unique and groundbreaking project: collecting the rookie cards of nearly 100 Black and biracial NHL players, including pioneers like Willie O’Ree and Hockey Hall of Famers Grant Fuhr and Jarome Iginla. His collection has been featured in the NHL’s Black Hockey History mobile museum, which visited every NHL city during the 2021–22 season, positively impacting thousands of fans, students, and community members across North America. In the 2023–24 season, both the collection and podcast were featured in the NHL United by Hockey museum tour. Dean’s work has received widespread media coverage in The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator, Hockey News, NHL Sirius Radio, and Global TV.
The son of Jamaican immigrants, Dean grew up in a household where hockey wasn’t part of the family tradition, but was inspired to play the game in a supportive community and went on to play university hockey at the University of Waterloo. His personal story reflects the power of storytelling, representation, and persistence, and serves as a call to action for others to challenge stereotypes and expand the narrative of who belongs in hockey, leadership, and public life.
Dean is currently a School Superintendent, responsible for leading system-wide initiatives focused on student mental health, well-being, equity, and inclusive education. Previously, he served as a high school principal, where he implemented whole-school approaches that led to improved student achievement, stronger school culture, and better health outcomes for staff and students. His leadership is grounded in empathy, vision, and a deep commitment to building diverse, thriving communities.
Dean holds a PhD from OISE at the University of Toronto, where his research explored social capital, the vital resource we access through relationships. He also holds a Master of Education from Queen’s University. His academic work continues to inform his approach to inclusive leadership, relationship-building, and meaningful change.
Dean is a compelling and insightful speaker who brings a fresh and meaningful voice to conversations about leadership and representation.
Dr. Dean Barnes Topic Presentations
Dr. Dean Barnes Burlington, Ontario, Canada delivers keynote presentations, workshops, fireside chats, moderated Q&A, and other presentation formats on a wide variety of topics. Each presentation is unique, customized and tailored for audiences, industries, conferences and event formats.
Representation On Ice: Leadership Lessons From Hockey and Beyond
Breaking Barriers in Sport: Expanding the Narrative of Who Belongs
The Power of Storytelling: Driving Equity and Inclusion
Building Social Capital: Foundations for Inclusive Leadership
From the Classroom to the Boardroom: Leading Diverse Communities
Dr. Dean Barnes Speaking Testimonials
Dr. Dean Barnes Speaker Topic Ideas
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FAQ
How to book Dr. Dean Barnes for an event?
Dr. Dean Barnes keynote speaker is an expert presenter and has a wide range of experience speaking to a wide variety of audiences and organizations. Dr. Dean Barnes delivers keynotes, workshops & training sessions. They may also host or emcee events. Hire Dr. Dean Barnes from Burlington, Ontario for your event to inspire the audience to take action and make change in their work and their lives. Your workplace will benefit from our keynote speaker and their keynote talks and speeches will shift the mindsets or behaviours for the audience members in Canada.
Interested in booking Dr. Dean Barnes for an event?
Are you looking to hire Dr. Dean Barnes for your event? Dr. Dean Barnes Burlington, Ontario is a dynamic and engaging speaker that offers audiences researched content paired with expertise and a dynamic speaking ability. Dr. Dean Barnes is also a Canadian corporate consultant and coach and facilitates workshops and training sessions for a corporate audience. Dr. Dean Barnes is an expert keynote presenter and speaks on wide variety of topics. Hiring a great speaker for your event is important and working with a thought leader like Dr. Dean Barnes from Speakers Canada's roster will engage audiences into the content of the presentation to bring awareness and a fresh perspective for their approach to their work and their lives. Book Dr. Dean Barnes to educate, motivate and activate the audience through an interactive and entertaining presentation at corporate meetings and gatherings.
Known as a popular key note speaker in Canada, Dr. Dean Barnes creates life changing experiences for the participants with practical insights and strategic advice they can implement right after the session. Working with one of our leading expert speaker like Dr. Dean Barnes from Burlington, Ontario offers organizations a fresh perspective to assist the people of the organization. No matter if it is a government, association, or business crowd, Dr. Dean Barnes is a perfect speaker for your event. Through unique practical insights for trending topics and years experience speaking to different organizations, Dr. Dean Barnes focuses on changing individuals to make better decisions at work and their lives. No matter if you are holding an in person or virtual event, having an influential speaker such as Dr. Dean Barnes will engage, motivate, and activate the audience to make a change in their lives and inspire action for results to meet organizational goals. Your workforce will benefit from Dr. Dean Barnes's presentations and speeches, with measurable results set to shift the people of the organization and core direction of the company. Book Dr. Dean Barnes speaker for your annual general meeting, conference, summit, or convention in Canada.
How much does it cost to hire Dr. Dean Barnes for a keynote presentation or virtual event?
Dr. Dean Barnes is an expert professional key note speaker with a lot of experience speaking and delivering engaging talks to organizations and audiences in Canada. Each of Speaker Bureau Canada's talent have different ways to assess their fees, and Dr. Dean Barnes speaker fee ranges depending on the size of the audience, event format (in person or virtual), event location, and if the organization booking them is a non profit, association, government department/government agency or business/corporation. The speakers we work with are flexible with their fees, and it is important for us to learn more about your event before we approach them, as it is our role to work for you, and to help you find a speaker within budget.
Please contact Speakers Bureau of Canada and provide us with your event details so that we can contact Dr. Dean Barnes to check availability or confirm the pricing and associated costs to hire a great speaker like Dr. Dean Barnes for your event. As Dr. Dean Barnes's agent and as a Canadian top speaker bureau and talent agency for speakers, we are able to propose each event opportunity from each host organization's behalf to try to help you get in touch with Dr. Dean Barnes and confirm them for your in person or online meeting/event. We can also provide and advise on the booking process and potentially negotiate their fee. Speakers Canada is a client focused speaker agency, and we work for you in finding good speakers for your team meetings and booking processes.
Dr. Dean Barnes Disclaimer
Speakers Bureau Canada assists companies and event planning teams seeking to hire talent like Dr. Dean Barnes for speaking engagements, virtual meetings, conference appearances, training sessions and workshops facilitations. Our Canadian speakers bureau does not claim to exclusively represent Dr. Dean Barnes, however they are represented by Speakers Canada, and we work with them closely for their Canadian speaking opportunities and bookings. As Canada's top speaker bureau, we represent Canadian motivational keynote speakers and professional guest speakers that will be available on your upcoming events date and location that are withing the budget. Our talented bureau speaker booking agency can help find business speakers or celebrity speakers that aligns with each organization, audience, event theme and the topic themes you hope for the speaker to address in their presentation.
When SBC receives a request to book Dr. Dean Barnes we provide you with their speaker fees, travel costs and check their schedules. We work closely with the host organization's event planning team and the speaker to handle the logistics and to relay or negotiate associated costs. Our talented team members then will work with our talent directly or their agent/manager/assistant to confirm the Canadian speaker fee and travel expenses, so that event planning teams can receive an official quote for the speaker appearing at the event. Speaker fees and travel costs vary per speaker and our role is to contact Dr. Dean Barnes about your event, after we have connected with the event organizers to learn all the event details and/or conference program. Each booking request is unique since session durations and audience sizes can vary which may affect the speaker's fees. If you are looking to hire Dr. Dean Barnes, we recommend filling out the booking request form so a booking agent from Speakers Bureau Canada can get in touch with our talent to help you coordinate with your team to engage the speaker for a successful event.











